Y2K
A strong idea is short-circuited by weak execution
Teens versus technology isn't nearly as fun as it should be in this uneven film.
New Year’s Eve 1999 was an uncertain time for many. There was the promise of a new millennium, but also the threat of Y2K — a computer glitch that, if not fixed, could crash computer systems worldwide.
High schoolers Eli and Danny (Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison) aren’t worried about a computer-based apocalypse. Their biggest concern for the new millennium is crashing a cool kid's party and finally getting Eli to ask out popular girl Laura (Rachel Zegler). But their party is ruined when the clock strikes midnight, and everything electrical begins to attack them.
Can a group of high schoolers save humanity, or at least their California town, from an evil electronic overlord?
Basically, this movie is Maximum Overdrive but without any of the whimsy and fun that copious amounts of cocaine bring about. Directed and co-written by SNL alum Kyle Mooney, Y2K feels like a rejected skit that was stretched into a feature-length film. The concept is pretty solid: A horror comedy about the Y2K crisis becoming a real apocalypse. But without humor or laughs, it’s hard to see the point.
The tone is all over the place. One moment, there’s goofy comedy, the next a bloody death. Neither land. The characters are all rather bland. The ending devolves into nonsense.
Mooney seems to think that referencing everything he can remember from 1999 is enough to make people laugh. This millennial was counting down the seconds until the credits. It doesn’t help that Mooney hamstrings his own movie by killing off the only good performer early and forcing a deadly dull romance storyline between two characters that have no chemistry and less screen presence.
Both Martell and Zegler offer up dead-eyed performances that are almost as boring as the film. Neither seems particularly committed to what’s happening on screen, and their plots offer nothing of substance. Picture yourself on a hero’s journey with a group of energy vampires. Good luck surviving the experience.
The only moment of sublime inspiration in the whole film is a storyline involving former Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst in the apocalypse. It holds the only real comedy in the entire film.
By the time the movie wraps up, everything feels like an afterthought. It’s as if Mooney kept pushing off finishing the script until it was too late. Then, he was forced to cobble something together while editing. This is a surprisingly low-quality effort from A24 and hopefully a blip on their usually interesting film catalog.
Verdict: When Fred Durst and a running Limp Bizkit joke is the best part of the movie, you’re in trouble.
Y2K is rated R and available in theaters December 6
